New Earth Nine redux
by User 4575
Summary: Ever wondered what the show would have been like if the Ninth Doctor hadn't regenerated? Well, here's the answer! Part of the Nine Redux series


Part of the Nine Redux series. As in _The Christmas Invasion_, all outside events occur exaccly as they did in the original episode unless stated otherwise. Doesn't belong to me, I would add. Belongs to the BBC. Same goes for everything else in this series.

Back aboard the TARDIS after Christmas dinner (after a quick stop in the January sales, since Jack had wanted to replace the clothes he'd lost on the Gamestation and Rose was never averse to a bit of shopping) Rose and Jack dragged the Doctor into the kitchen.

"Right. We want to ask you some questions." Rose told the Doctor.

"Don't know what you mean!" he protested, with an air of faux innocence which fooled nobody.

"You know exactly what we mean." Jack said. "I was shot by a Dalek, Doctor. I was _dead_. Then I woke up, and that's not supposed to happen."

"And I've got an important chunk of my memory missing coupled with minor brain damage, and you seem to know what happened. And you were dying, and you won't say why." Rose added.

"Okay." the Doctor capitulated. "Fine. I'll start with Rose, Jack, since what happened to you - and to me, for that matter - depends on it. Rose, you remember being at home?"

"Yeah, course. Won't be forgetting that little trick soon, let me tell ya."

"I'm not going to apologise, it kept you alive. _Anyway_," he added, seeing her about to protest "You were sent home, then what did you do? Don't know all the facts meself."

"Well, I was bloody miserable for about half a day, then I thought about Margaret Blane, the Slitheen. She looked into the heart of the TARDIS, right? So I thought, if I could do that, I could make the TARDIS understand me, and I'd fly it back and save you. Somehow. Then I got Mum and Mickey to help out getting the console open, then I looked under the panel I pulled up and..."

"And what?" the Doctor seemed anxious.

"And then... I don't know. Just... vagueness, and singing. The most beautiful singing you've ever heard, and everything was red and orange or silver and gold. And then I woke up on the floor in there." She pointed to the console room.

"Right. Thanks, Rose, that explains how you did it. As for what you did, you absorbed the Time Vortex. Not a terribly clever thing to do, but there we are. You had ultimate power over everything, everywhere and nearly everywhen. You flew the TARDIS back to the Gamestation, turned all the Daleks to dust and resurrected Jack. See? I told you I'd get to it." he added in an aside. "But, that's too much power for a living body to hold. Even TARDISes are specially designed with non-living components to prevent them from fully accessing that power and killing themselves. And you couldn't let go of it, either. So I pulled it out of you, but then I was holding it. I just shot it straight back into the TARDIS, but that was still long enough to do some fairly hefty damage, nearly had to regenerate. There you have it."

"Regenerate?" Rose asked.

"Change. If I'm dying, I can change every cell in my body, make them new so I'm better. It's not perfect, beheading's still permanent, but it's good for most things. What it does mean is that I end up looking completely different, and some of my personality changes. I'm still the same man with the same memories, but the little things are different. One time, I had an unholy attachment to celery."

"I ... see. And when were you going to tell us about this?"

"When it came up. Besides, Jack already knew. It's in the legends he's heard cos my people used to have a fair bit to do with the Time Agency."

The three of them sat for a while, lost in their separate thoughts. Then the Doctor startled. "What's this?" he wondered aloud, pulling out his psychic paper. "Hey, you two, look at this. I've got a message." When Jack looked at it, the paper flashed _Ward 26,_ then _Please come_ and a series of numbers.

"Are those coordinates in there?"

"Yep. For the year five billion and twenty-five, oddly enough. Come on, off we go." When they reached the console room, the Doctor added "Hey, Rose. D'you want to learn to fly the TARDIS? Save you having to kill yourself if we get separated again"

"God, yes! Where do I stand, Doctor?" She was grinning broadly.

"Right..." he put his hands on her shoulders and put her where he wanted her, then stood close behind. "Here. Now, to set the time you want..."

Stepping out of the TARDIS, Jack gave a convulsive shiver.

"What's wrong?" Rose asked him.

"I'm here already. First thing we learn in the Time Agency is how to sense ourselves. Helps avoid paradoxes." Rose blushed at this.

"Can you sense proximity, Jack?" asked the Doctor, concerned.

"Yeah, pretty well actually. I can't put a number on it, but I'll know if I'm within say ten meters of myself."

"Good. Keep an eye on that, would you?"

"Sure. I'll let you know if I'm feeling a bit too close."

"Thanks, Jack."

"Where are we?" asked Rose.

"New Earth." answered the Doctor. "Remember the year five billion, the sun expanded and the Earth got destroyed?"

"Yeah." Rose smiled. "Our first date." she explained to Jack.

The Doctor smiled back. "Well, after that happened there was a big nostalgia movement amongst the Earth-born races. This island is New New York, over on one of the other continents there's a whole load of subsidiary forests."

"Forests?"

"For the tree-people. Most of them came from Earth trees, I don't know why. Might be something to do with the pollution and the genetic experiments of the 5150s. Now, _ward twenty-six_ means a hospital, and so does a green crescent moon, so I would suggest we go," He pointed, "That way."

"Human." says an Irish accent. "They're both pure blood human." The accent belongs to a thin, white face with black markings on it.

"I think I recognise them. Move closer!" says another voice. The red screen does indeed move closer to the trio it contains. "I want to see their faces! Closer!" The screen shifts around. Its source is a small, four-legged metal spider which is trying to stay out of sight. Eventually, it succeeds in moving around them and capturing their faces. "I knew it! The Doctor and Rose Tyler. Those assasains!" the voice continues. "Follow them..."

"This hospital is owned and run entirely by the Sisters of Plenitude. Please give generously." Jack read. "A charity hospital!" He said happily.

"There's no shop." complained the Doctor. "Hospitals give me the creeps anyway, but not to have a shop? Where are we gonna buy grapes?"

"Doctor, this is eighty years after the great vine blight. The samples they got from Earth thirty years ago haven't produced anything edible yet, and they won't for at least another decade."

"I know that, Jack. It's the principle of the thing."

"Lifts are over here!" Rose broke in.

"Go on in, then. Ward twenty-six, voice control. And watch out for the disinfectant!" the Doctor advised. He and Jack caught the next-door lift, but when they got out, the corridor was empty.

"Where is she? She should have arrived before us."

"Well, it's one ward per floor, or there'd be signs. If she's not on the ward, we'll know she's missing."

"Good plan - oh!"

"What is it, Jack?"

"It's too close. I must be on the ward somewhere. I'm gonna go look for Rose, I've got a bad feeling about this. Thirty-five seconds isn't long enough to get out of this corridor, and that's about how far behind we should be."

"You're right. Tell you what, you wait here, and if she's in there, I'll shout."

Meanwhile, Rose had left the lift and entered a half-ruined corridor. She saw a pale-faced man in the distance. "I'm looking for ward twenty-six." she said, unnerved.

"This way, Rose Tyler." the man replied, in a soft and seemingly Irish accent.

Thoroughly spooked, she picked up a metal bar before following the man into a room. There was an old-fashioned projector there, showing a film of a woman at a party. Something about the scene was naggingly familiar. "Wait a minute!" Rose said, thinking. "That's..."

"Peekaboo!" Cassandra calls.

Rose held out the metal pole in her right hand. "Don't you come anywhere near me, Cassandra!" she warned.

"Why?" Cassandra asked bitterly. "What d'you think I'm going to do, flap you to death?"

"Yeah, but what about Gollum?"

"Oh, that's just Chip. He's my pet."

"I worship the mistress!" Chip added, fiercely.

"Moisturise me, moisturise me!" as Chip started spraying, she continued "He's not even a proper life-form. He's a force-grown clone, I modeled him on my favourite pattern. But he's sofaithful. Chip sees to my physical needs."

"Hoping that means food!" Rose said edgily."How comes you're still alive?"

"After you murdered me?"

Rose advanced, rod held before her like a sceptre. "That was your own fault." She lowered it again.

"The brain of my mistress survived, and her pretty blue eyes were salvaged from the bin."

"But what about the skin? I saw it burst."

"That piece of skin was taken from the front of my body. This piece is the back."

"Right," Rose was grinning now. "This means you're taking out your -"

"Ask not!"

"The mistress was lucky to survive! Chip secreted milady into the hospital."

"So they don't know you're here."

"Chip steals medicine. Helps milady. Sooths her. Strokes her -"

"You can stop right there, Chip." Whether Rose was speaking kindly or dangerously was hard to say.

"Oh, but I'm so alone, hidden down here. The last human in existance."

"Don't start that again, they've called this planet New Earth!"

"A vegetable patch!" contempt was thick in Cassandra's voice.

"And there's millions of humans out there. Millions of them!"

"Mutant stock."

"They evolved, Cassandra. They just evolved, like they should. You stayed still, got yourself all _pickled_ and _preserved_, and what good did it do you?"

Cassandra looked at the projection on the wall. "Oh, I remember that night. Drinks for the Ambassador of Thrace. That was the last time anyone told me I was beautiful. After that it all became such hard work." her voice hardened.

"Well you've got a knack for survival, I'll give you that."

"But I've not been idle, Rose. Tucked away, underneath this hospital, I've been listening. The Sisters are hiding something."

"What d'you mean?"

"These cats have secrets! Hush! Let me whisper, come close."

"Not on your life!" answered Rose, backing away. Suddenly, bright lights lanced out of the wall, holding her firmly. "Let me go! Let me go, Cassandra!"

"Chip! Activate the psychograft!"

A cage of blue light descended from the ceiling. "What're you doing?" cried Rose, on a note of panic.

"I'm moving on. It's goodbye, trampoline and hello -" A pink mist moved out of the skin-stand and into Rose, who promptly collapsed. Chip moved to stand over her.

"Mistress?"

"Moisturise me." He turned, and scurried away. "Rose" sat up, looked down at herself. "Arms. Arms! Fingers! _Hair_! Oh, let me see, let me see!" she ran to a mirror. "Oh, my God. I'm a chav!" "Rose's" voice had changed, lost all trace of its estuary accent.

"Hello, is this Reception?" Jack was wearing his best smile. The "I'm-so-pretty-you'll-do-just-what-I-want-because-I'm-so-nice" special. The feline female he was smiling at did not disappoint.

"Hello, there." she purred. "This is Reception. how may I help?"

"I'm looking for a friend of mine, Rose Tyler. She's a human, about so high, blonde hair, dark eyes and eyebrows. Probably quite distinctively dressed."

The nurse's tone cooled somewhat. "Were you together?"

"We traveled here together, yeah, but we're not _together_." He deliberately stopped himself flirting. "We were both visiting Ward twenty-six, but she caught a different elevator and she'd vanished by the time I arrived. It's our first visit here, so she might have gotten lost; could you page her please?"

"Certainly, sir." Her tone had warmed again. "And your name?"

"Cap'n Jack Harkness, pleased to meet you ma'am."

There was an announcement over the intercom. _Would a Miss Rose Tyler please come down to Reception. Would Miss Rose Tyler please come down to Reception, Captain Jack Harkness wishes to meet her._

"You're an angel, that should be just the ticket."

The Doctor wandered back into Ward twenty-six, where he was met by a veiled nurse. He passed a couple of patients, thinking that they seemed in remarkably good shape for the diseases they seemed to have, when he came upon a staggeringly obese man with a very grey cast to him, who seemed to grate when he moved.

"Excuse me!" a severe-looking woman in a business suit admonished him. "Members of the public may only gaze on the Duke of Manhattan with written permission from the senate of New New York."

"That man's got petrifold regression."

"I'm dying, sir. A lifetime of charity and abstinence, and it ends like this."

"Any statements made by the Duke of Manhattan may not be made public without official clearance."

The Duke called out incoherently, and the woman rushed over and clasped his hand. "I'm so weak!" he said.

"Sister Jatt. A little privacy, please!" the sharp-tongued woman snapped, sounding on the verge of tears. The nurse nodded, and drew the Doctor away, closing the curtain.

"He'll be up and about in no time." she said briskly.

"Will he, indeed?"

"Have faith in the Sisterhood. But is there no-one here you recognise? It's rather unusual to visit without knowing the patient."

"I think I've found him, thanks." the Doctor smiled, and walked over to the tank containing the Face of Boe.

"Novice Hame," Sister Jatt addressed the nurse beside the tank. "I leave this man in your care." She nodded, and left the ward.

"I'm afraid the Face of Boe is asleep," Novice Hame said in a soft, sad voice. "It's all he tends to do, these days. Are you a friend?"

"I'm not, no. We only met the once, big shindig twenty-five years back. He asked me to come, though, so I'm here. What's wrong with him?"

"I'm so sorry, I thought you knew. The Face of Boe is dying."

"Of what?"

"Old age. The one thing we can't cure. He's thousands of years old. Some people say millions, although that's impossible."

"Oh, I dunno. Funny old universe, this." the Doctor crouched down. "I'm here." He placed a hand flat on the tank, in front of the Face's cheekbone. It shifted, but didn't stir.

_Would a Miss Rose Tyler please come down to Reception. Would Miss Rose Tyler please come down to Reception, Captain Jack Harkness wishes to meet her._ Cassandra startled. "Oh, heavens! Quick, Chip. How does she speak?"

"Old Earth cockney, milady."

"Right. My perfume?" Chip handed it to her, and Cassandra tucked it between her breasts then hurried off.

"Rose, thank goodness! Where were you, we were worried!" Jack beamed at her.

"Oh, hello!" Cassandra murmured. "Got a bit lost, guv'nor. Went the wrong way on the old apples and pairs!"

Jack's beam dropped away, but he merely said "Let's go find the Doctor, he should still be where I left him." They proceeded through the disinfection and into the ward, where the Doctor was handing Novice Hame a cup of something. "Best to wait here, I don't - ah - I don't want to interrupt."

"That's very kind, but there's no need." Hame told the Doctor.

"Well, you're the one who's working."

"There's not much to do, just maintain his smoke. And I suppose I'm company. I can hear him singing, sometimes, in my mind. Such ancient songs."

"Am I the only one who's visited?"

"The rest of boekind became extinct long ago, he's the only one left. Legend says that the Face of Boe has watched the universe grow old, there's all sorts of superstitions around him. One story says that just before his death, he'll impart his great secret. That he'll speak those words only to one like himself."

"Oh, yeah? What do they mean by that?"

"Well, it's just a story."

"What's the rest?" the Doctor's face had softened, looking almost wistful.

"It's said he'll talk to a wanderer, to the man without a home. The lonely god."

The Doctor said "I wonder what it means..." somewhat unconvincingly, smiled at Novice Hame and wandered over to the window, then spied Jack and "Rose" at the ward entrance, and moved to meet them. He was waylaid by the Duke of Manhattan:

"It's that man again! He's my good-luck charm!" He was looking slightly ruddy, and not at all rocky.

"Any friendship expressed by the Duke of Manhattan does not constitute a form of legal contract." the woman, who seemed to be a walking disclaimer, whispered with a smile.

The Duke pressed a remote, and was winched to a sitting position. "It's a miracle! There's no sign of infection anywhere! Champagne, sir?"

"No, thanks. Friends to meet." the Doctor replied. "How's it done?" he asked the air.

"Primitive species," answered one of the sisters, who seemed to have appeared from nowhere, "Would accuse us of magic, but it's merely the tender application of science."

"What science?"

"Oh, it's nothing special, just applied biochemistry, really."

"But what biochemistry?"

"A simple home remedy."

"Then why won't you tell me what it is?"

"I'm sorry, patient confidentiality." her tone hardened. "I don't believe we've met, I'm Matron Casp."

"Hello, I'm the Doctor."

"I think you'll find _we_ are the doctors here."

"Matron Casp, you're needed in intensive care." said another sister.

Casp and the Doctor bowed slightly to one another, then she and the other sister walked away, murmuring quietly. He, meanwhile, continued on to meet up with Rose and Jack.

"You alright to be here?" he asked the other man.

"Yeah. I'm nearby, but not conscious. What's up?" His eyes flicked to the woman beside him and back as if to say _What's up with her?_

"Well, I don't know." the Doctor answered, flickering his eyes also. "But there's definitely something funny going on around here. Can we find a terminal? I'd like to look up some more medical histories." The trio started walking. "There're people on that ward who should be dead, dying or very ill indeed and there's not a scratch on any of 'em. The Face of Boe excepted (he's the one who called me), average recovery time is two days, and not one treatment takes more than two weeks."

Jack had led them to a terminal, and the Doctor started poking around with his sonic screwdriver. "Wait a minute!" said Cassandra. "Go back to that list of departments. There. There's no intensive care. Every department in the hospital except intensive care."

"Oh, good work, Rose!" the Doctor enthused. "You're quite right, but not only that, I know that there is an intensive care because I was talking to a Matron and she got called there."

"So where is it?" asked Jack.

"Good question."

"Try the installation protocols." Cassandra suggested.

"There! That's -" the Doctor's satisfaction was cut off as the wall in front of them decended. "Done it." he finished lamely. "Come on!"

They raced into the newly opened corridor, stopping when they reached a vast chamber filled with green pods. "What's inside?" Jack asked. The Doctor zapped the nearest pod with his screwdriver, and with an unpleasant beeping the door opened. There was a person inside it. He had grey skin, scaly in places and lank greasy hair but for all that he was clearly human. "Oh, my God!" Jack exclamed.

"I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry." said the Doctor, with an agonised expression.

"What's wrong with him?" Cassandra asked.

"Everything. He's got every disease in the whole galaxy."

"Are we safe?" Cassandra worried, taking a step back.

"The air's sterile, just don't touch him. I think we've seen all we need to here." He shut the door again, then swung round and paced to the edge of the walkway, where he gripped the handrail tightly and stared out, wild-eyed.

"How many patients are there in here?" Jack asked.

"They aren't patients." the Doctor's face was set, now.

"But they're sick!"

"They were born sick. They _exist_ to be sick! This whole room's just one giant germ lab. It's no wonder they've got a cure for everything." He spun, to face the approaching Novice Hame.

"Did you know about this?" He held out a hand to stop Jack.

"It's for the greater good! The Sisterhood has sworn to help."

"By doing this? How are you helping these people, then?" Rage was blossoming in the Doctor's voice.

"They're not real people. They've been specially grown. They have no proper existance!"

"How many do you use? A hundred a day? A thousand? Tell me, Novice Hame, _how many people_?"

"Mankind needed us." She was almost in tears. "They came to this planet with so many illnesses! We couldn't cope! We did try. We tried everything, clone meat and bio-cattle, but the results were too slow, so the Sisterhood grew its own flesh. That's all they are. Flesh."

"Those _people_ are _alive_!"

"And so are all the people out there in the city. _Healthy_ and _happy_, because of _us_!"

"If this is the cost of that, then life's not worth living."

"And who are you, to decide that?"

"I'm the Doctor." His face hardened. "I'm a Time Lord. I'm the last surviving President of Gallifrey, and if you want a higher authority, there isn't one! It stops with me."

"Just to confirm," said "Rose", moving around the Doctor. "None of the _humans_ in the city actually know about this?"

"We thought it best not."

"Hold on a minute. I can understand all this, the people and the vows, but what have you done to Rose?"

"I don't know what you mean!" said Hame, stepping back.

"No, no, no, no. You've done something, and I want it reversed."

"I'm _perfectly fine_." "Rose" added.

"No, you're not, sweetheart, and d'you wanna know why?" Jack asked, almost sweetly. "These _people_ are dying, and _Rose_ would _care_."

"All right, clever clogs." she said.

"What's happened to you?" asked the Doctor, softly.

"I knew something was going on in this hospital, but I needed this body, and your brain, to find it out."

"Who _are_ you?" asked Jack.

She leaned in towards them. "The last human!" she whispered.

"Cassandra?!"

"Oh, wake up and smell the perfume!" She sprayed the contents of the vial from her cleavage in their faces in two quick squirts. Both men collapsed. Hame rushed to their sides.

"What did you do? I don't understand, I'll have to fetch Matron!"

"You do that," Cassandra said. "Now, run along! Sound the alarm!"

The Doctor came to inside a small, green pod. He could see Jack bound in his shredded shirt near his feet. He might have struggled, but for two things: one, he was still unconscious and two, his neck was tied fairly tightly to the railings. A fact he discovered when he awoke. "Let me out of here!" the Doctor said, angrily.

"Aren't you lucky there was a spare?" responded Cassandra sweetly. "Standing room only. They pump the patients with a top-up every ten minutes, and you've got about... three minutes left. Enjoy."

"You've stolen Rose's body, now let her go!"

"I will! As soon as I find someone younger, and less common, I'll jump off with the weights, now hush-a-bye! It's showtime!"

"Anything we can do to help?" Two sisters had approached during the conversation, as had Chip.

"Straight to the point, Whiskers. I want money."

"The Sisterhood is a charity. We don't _give_ money, we just ... accept."

"The humans across the water pay you a fortune, and that's just what I want! A one-off payment...and perhaps a yacht. In return for which I will tell the city nothing of your institutional murder. Do we have a deal?"

The Doctor was distracted by the sight of Jack nearly suffocating himself trying to escape, and so missed the rest of the conversation and was startled when his door opened, along (he noticed, rushing to untie his friend) with all the others in this row. "What have you done?" he cried, seeing the patients all walking out.

"Gave their systems a shot of adrenaline, just to wake them up!"

"Don't touch!" he said, over his shoulder as he ran. He watched as one of the "patients" pulled a lever and every other door in the vast chamber swung open.

"We've got to get out of here!" Jack said.

"One touch and you get every disease there is, and I want that body safe, Cassandra!" the Doctor warned.

"We've got to go down, take the stairs!" added Jack, shoving Cassandra before him. When they finally reached the bottom, she broke for the lifts.

"No good, they're grounded, there'll be a quarantine." the Doctor snapped.

"This way, then!" Cassandra called after her, hysterical. Chip, trailing behind, was cut off by a sea of patients emerging from a siide corridor. Jack and the Doctor turned to help.

"Leave him! He's only got a half life, come _on_!"

"Mistress!" he called miserably, then turned and ran back. The other three continued on, until they ended up in a small room whose only exit they had just been barricaded against the approach of more patients.

"We're trapped! What are we going to do?" Cassandra whined.

"Well, for starters, you'll be leaving that body. That psychograft is banned for a reason. You're compressing Rose to death!" the Doctor fumed.

"I've got nowhere to go. My original skin's dead."

"That's not my problem, now _let her go_!"

"You asked for this." she answered, and pushed off as pink mist, into the Doctor's body.

"Blimey, my head! Jack! What's going on? Where's she gone?" Rose asked breathlessly.

"Oh, my." said the Doctor, moving awkwardly and speaking in an accent which could only be described as 'very posh indeed'. "This is - different. Goodness me, I'm a _man_! Yum! So many parts! Oh, Oh! Two hearts! Oh, baby, I'm beating out a samba!"

"Get out of there." Jack growled.

"Not traditionally pretty, but so slim! And a little bit dangerous." Her gaze raked the other two, settled on Rose. "I've been inside your head. Don't deny it, you've been looking." She placed the Doctor's hands on his chest. "You _like_ it!"

The door burst open. "Up the steps!" cried Rose, grabbing the ladder she'd backed up against.

"Out of the way, blondie!" Cassandra shoved Rose, and started climbing. The other two quickly followed.

"If you get out of the Doctor's body, he can think of something!" Rose called up.

"Hey!" Jack exclaimed. One of the Sisters had grabbed his ankle under his trouser cuff.

"You have destroyed everything. The good name of the Sisterhood! Everywhere, disease, sickness - a-aaah!" She cried out, her skin blistering and scaling.

"Oh, God! Her glove was ripped! You two go on, Rose. I'll miss -" he stopped, fell off the ladder. Rose looked down at the patients climbing the ladder - perilously close, now.

"Move!" she snapped. They came to a door, just beneath the ceiling. It was locked.

"Well, now what do we do?" Cassandra asked.

"Use the sonic screwdriver!" Rose answered.

"I can't. Surface memory only tells me what it is, not how to use it."

"Cassandra, go back into me, the Doctor'll know what to do. Do it!"

"Hold on tight." the pink mist moved again. "Oh, chav-tastic again. Open it!" she shouted.

"Not unless you get out of her."

"We need the Doctor."

"Leave her, now!" he blazed. The pink mist moved again.

"No matter how difficult the situation, there is no need to shout." "the Doctor" said.

"Cassandra, get out of him." Rose shouted.

"But if I go into you, he simply refuses, he's so rude!"

"I don't care, just do something!"

"Oh, I'm _so_ going to regret this." The pink mst shot past Rose, and into the topmost patient. "Oh, sweet Lord! I look disgusting!" she said, over the hum of the sonic screwdriver. "Oh, no you don't!" She shot through the closing doors, back into Rose.

"This is your _last_ warning, now will you _let her go_!" Fury was radiating off him. Cassandra was sitting against the wall, and didn't even notice.

"Inside her head. They're so alone." she said, desolately. "They keep reaching out, just to hold us. All their lives and they've never been touched." His face softening, the Doctor moved over to her. He held out his hand. She looked up at him, took it, stood. Then, he let go and they moved off as the banging started on the door. He burst back into ward twenty-six, only to meet the woman from before rushing at him with a stand.

"No, no no no! Look!" He shot his arms from his sleeves, showing a good inch of wrist below his jumper cuff. "Rose" showed her bare arm. "If we'd been touched, we'd be dead." She dropped the stand. "So what's happening?"

"There's nothing but silence from the other wards, I think we're the only ones left. I've been trying to get through the quarantine feild. If I can get a signal over to New New York, they can send a private executive squad."

"You can't do that, it'll break the quarantine."

"I am _not_ dying in _here_!"

"We cannot let a single particle of those diseases escape, there are ten million people in that city, now turn that thing off!"

"Not if it gets me out!"

"Alright, fine! So I have to stop you, as well, I can manage that. Cassandra! Novice Hame, everyone - excuse me, your Grace - I need you to get me the IV solutions for every disease, now _move it_!" They did,rushing to grab as many as they could while the Doctor tied one of the Duke's gold braid ropes around him. Then, he fired the sonic screwdriver at the Duke's pulley. He hung each of the bags from the rope, and, pulley in hand, ran into the corridor, dragging Cassandra behind him. He raced over to the lift, took a run-up and jumped into the shaft. He then attached the pulley, took a firm grip, and shouted back "Going down! Coming, Cassandra?"

"You must be joking!" she yelled back.

"I need another pair of hands, now _come on_!" She looked around. There were patients coming out of the entrance to intensive care, and the ward doors were sealed fast. Squealing, she ran and jumped onto the Doctor's back. He then separated his legs - he had no desire to friction-burn through his favourite jeans, thanks - and flicked the pulley to release. With Cassandra screaming on his back, he descended, slowing to a halt just above the roof of the lift's cage. Jumping off, and setting Cassandra down (ignoring her quip about weight loss), he pulled off the disinfectant cover's lid, and emptied all of the bags he was carring into its reservoir.

"Now, take hold of that lever, and when I tell you to, pull." he ordered.

"There's still a quarantine, we can't -"

"Do it!" he snapped, sonicking the cage roof open. Jumping down, he added "Now, that lever's gonna resist, so pull on it with everything you've got. Ready?"

"What are you doing?"

"I've got an appointment. The Doctor is in!" He answered, moving out into the lobby. "Hello, you lot! Here I am! That's right, come on!" He backed back into the lift. "Now!"

_Commence Stage One disinfection,_ the voice said. "Come on!" he shouted. The first of the patients came into the spray. "Now, pass it on! That's right, pass it on!" He was grinning from ear to ear. They left the lift, touching the others as they went.

Jack woke up with a gasp. _Not again_, he thought. Then he noticed that there seemed to be some sort of wave moving past him, of patients touching one another. There were little puffs of steam rising from the contact, and in its wake, their faces seemed to be...pink. Their faces were pink and the sores were gone. Seeing that he was awake, one of them touched him, too, and he felt a tremendous rush of relief. _That's better,_ he thought, _I'm me again_. Then he remembered Chip, and moving back to where he'd last seen the little guy, he smiled, touching as many others as he could. Just a clasping of hands, even the occasional hug. They were all smiling incredulously.

He found hip shut in one of the pods. Unfortunately, the "top up" had just started, so Jack had to trust in his contagious immunity/cure as he pulled the door open. Sure enough, Chip faded back to normal when touched, the same as everyone else. "Come on, Chip. Let's go back to find the others."

"Pass on what? Pass on _what_?" Cassandra asked from above him. She jumped down, and the Doctor caught her. "What did they pass on, did you kill them?"

"That's your kind of answer. I'm the Doctor, and I cured them!" He held out his arms to the woman approaching him, and enveloped her in a hug. "That's better now, isn't it." he said, into her hair. "Go on, pass that on too." he said, and she did, moving off to hug someone else.

"Look at them!" He exclaimed. "A brand-new race. New humans - and you can't deny them, Cassandra." he whirled on her. "You can't deny them, 'cos you helped create them!" He was still grinning broadly, when he spied Jack and Chip emerged from a corridor.

"Right." he said, face falling. "Now. I want you out of there."

"But I've nowhere to go!"

"I don't care. Everything has its time, Cassandra, and everything dies. I told you that before."

"But -"

"No. There's a whole world out there, full of new, young life. There's no place for you anymore."

Cassandra looked at the doctor, then past him. "A body..." she mused.

The Doctor turned, saw who she was looking at. "No. He's got a life of his own."

"I worship the mistress!" Chip said ardently. "I welcome her." She passed over his shoulder, a swirl of pink mist, then into Chip. Rose promptly collapsed, and the Doctor caught her and held her, as he looked at Cassandra.

She smiled awkwardly. "Oh, dear. Poor Chip. He's only a half-life, and he's been through such a lot. His heart is racing so. I think he's dying. But that's...good. That's all right." She looked up. "I understand, now, Doctor. You're right, there's no place for me here."

"Then there's one thing I can do. Jack, I still have to talk to the Face of Boe, if you'd take Cassandra back to the TARDIS?"

"Course, Doctor. It's the only way - I'm awake now. But I've got something I need to talk to you about, later."

"Right." Rose stirred. The Doctor's face became infinitely tender. "Rose? I've got to go visit the Face of Boe, just quickly, but you can go back to the TARDIS with Jack, if you like."

"No, I'd rather... I'd rather stay with you, thanks." She smiled back up at him. "I'd prefer to walk though."

"Oh. Oh, right." he put her down, and they went upstairs together.

"You look well. Thought you were dying."

_There are better things to do today. Dying can wait._

"Is he telepathic?"

_I am, Rose. I had grown tired with the universe, Doctor, but you have taught me to look at it anew._

"I've heard some legends, here and there. They say that you're millions of years old."

_That would be impossible._ There was a laugh in his "voice".

"Wouldn't it just. Now, I got the impression you wanted to tell me something."

_A great secret._

"So they say."

_It can wait._

"Does it have to?"

_We will meet again, Doctor. For the third time, for the last time. Then the truth shall be told. It has been good to see you both again. Goodbye, Rose. Doctor. Until that day..._ He vanished in a stream of blue sparkles.

"Now that was enigmatic. Does a good line in enigmatic, that old Face." the Doctor's voice was tinged with affection. "Come on, Rose. Home time!"

They linked hands, and walked back to the TARDIS.

The TARDIS arrived at a party. To Rose, who'd seen it already on the film from the hospital, it looked very familiar.

"Thank you." said Chip/Cassandra, who was dressed in black robes and spoke with a light Irish accent.

"Just go, and don't look back." said the Doctor. They approached the party-goers as he, Jack and Rose retreated into the shadows.

"Excuse me? My lady Cassandra." Chip/Cassandra were smiling.

"I'm sorry, I don't want anything right now. I'm fine, thank you."Young Cassandra said briskly.

"No! I just wanted to say, you look beautiful."

"Well, that's very kind, you strange little thing." Her voice was warmer. "Thank you very much."

"I mean it!" they said, vehemently. They stepped closer. "You look so beautiful."

"Thank you." She whispered, moved. Chip/Cassandra sighed, and collapsed. She caught them, and started shouting for help. She cradled him in her arms. "It'll be all right. There, now. I've got you. I'll be all right..." she crooned. The Doctor laid a hand on Rose's and Jack's arms, and pushed them gently back into the TARDIS.

Sorry that this hasn't been too Nine-a-licious, but I need to stick pretty close to canon for a bit. If I'm going to have season four turning out similar, I can't deviate too much yet! But, fear not! Nine/Rose shippers will receive their due reward from me, even if they didn't from RTD. :P (Please, what did you think?)


End file.
